McLaren Formula One team may test Honda power in 2014

That is the claim of team boss Eric Boullier, even though the Frenchman's immediate task after joining McLaren from Lotus is to win races with Mercedes power.

After a promising start, McLaren's season has slumped, and yet the newly returned “supremo” Ron Dennis is demanding race wins long before the switch to Honda power.

“I know why he [Dennis] is saying it,” said Jenson Button. “We have to be quicker this year if we want to be quick next year.

“We have to keep on pushing and will not let up, unlike maybe Mercedes once they have a 300-point lead,” he said, smiling.

London newspaper The Times claims Boullier has been given “carte blanche” by Dennis to depart from traditional McLaren methods and “start again.”

The highly anticipated Honda era, meanwhile, may get an unexpectedly early start, with Boullier hinting that the Japanese-made turbo V6 could get its first laps in Abu Dhabi at the end of the season.

“We have thought about it,” said Boullier, referring to whether McLaren could immediately switch to Honda power for the post-race test after the Abu Dhabi finale in November.

“We are currently running a Mercedes engine until Abu Dhabi, so we will not run anything else, but we have thought to maybe try the [Honda] car afterwards,” added Boullier.

However, he dismissed the suggestion that -- already without a title sponsor in 2014 -- McLaren might as well write off this season in favor of the 2015 project.

“We definitely are not in a limbo year,” he said.

“We are working just flat-out at Woking, and a title sponsor doesn't change anything anyway as our budget is in place already.

“Obviously, next year's power unit is another program, but it is not affecting what we are doing at all,” Boullier added.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

This commenting section is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page. You may be able to find more information on their web site.

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Autoweek participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.